Strand attachment means for pusher flight



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United States Patent 3,412,844 STRAND ATTACHMENT MEANS FOR PUSHER FLIGHT John H. Girvan, Plymouth, Mich., assignor to Cleveland Equipment Division, Detroit Engineering & Machine Company, Garden City, Mich., a corporation of Michigan Filed May 31, 1967, Ser. No. 642,554 4 Claims. (Cl. 198-175) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A conveyor for a road surfacing machine is arranged with spaced apart conveyor link chains which are connected together by flight bars transversely between the link chains and having a novel locking connection at each end of the flight bars with the connections being secured to the flight bars and opposed links on the spaced apart link chains.

Field of the invention The field of the invention is conveyors for road surfacing machines and more particularly to new and improved connections on said conveyors.

Summary of the invention In accordance with my invention I provide a new and improved connection between flight bars and chain links on conveyors for road surfacing machines wherein a separate U-shaped channel is provided with horizontal and vertical slots with the ends of the U-shaped channel being welded to the end of the flight bar to receive a chain tab in the horizontal slot with the tab being provided with a vertical bore in which is positioned a pin of suflicient length to lock a flight channel to a chain tab and the chain tab is secured to a chain link.

It has been previously proposed to machine the ends of flight bars for conveyors to provide a suitable portion for securement with a chain tab but this was found to be time taking and therefore expensive.

It is therefore an object of my invention to provide a new and improved connection for conveyors between the flight bars and chain links on road surfacing machines which comprise a flight channel of U-shape which cooperates with the chain tabs on the conveyors.

Other objects of this invention will appear in the following description and appended claims, reference being had to the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification wherein like reference characters designate corresponding parts in the several views.

In the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a plan view of a road surfacing machine embodying features of my invention;

FIGURE 2 is an enlarged view in elevation of a portion of a flight bar connection and arrangement of the machine of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a plan view of a U-shaped view of a flight channel embodying features of my invention; and

FIGURE 4 is an end view in elevation of the flight channel shown in FIGURE 3.

Before explaining the present invention in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and arrangement of parts illustrated in the accompanying drawings,

3,412,844 Patented Nov. 26, 1968 "ice since the invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced or carried out in various ways. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology or terminology employed herein is for the purpose of description and not of limitation.

Referring to the drawings the numeral 10 designates in general a road surfacing machine. The machine is power driven and includes a housing 14 supported on wheels 18 and driven by a power source 20 with an operators station 22 disposed adjacent the power source 20. The housing 14 supports a hopper 24 at the forward end thereof which is adapted to receive surfacing material, such as asphalt, from a truck and move it rearwardly within the housing 14 by a conveyor 28 which deposits the surface material adjacent a screed 30 at the rear end of the machine 10.

In accordance with my invention I provide a conveyor arrangement 28 for the machine 10 which includes a pair of spaced apart rotary conveyor link chains 38 and slats or conveyor flight bars 40 which extend transversely and between opposed links 44 of the conveyor 28. The flight bars 40 are connected on each end to links 44 by a flight channel 48 and a chain tab 50.

The connection between the flight bars 40 and the link chains 44 is, as shown in FIGURE 2, by the flight channel 48, flight bar 40, link chain 44 and a pin 54. The flight channel 48 is as best shown in FIGURES 3 and 4 wherein the flight channel is in the shape of a U having legs 56 and a connection 58 between the legs. A rectangular slot 60 is provided in the flight channel 40 in the connection 58 between the legs 56 and which extends inwardly between the legs 56. The ends 64 of legs 56 are welded as at 65 to the end 66 of a flight bar 40 as in FIGURE 2 where it is shown with the end 68 of chain tab 50 extending through the slot 60 and between the legs 56 of the flight channel 48. The chain tab 50 is welded to the chain link 38 as at 70 and includes a bore 72 into which the pin 54 is securely inserted. The pin 54 is of greater length than the height of or the transverse space in the slot to thereby lock the chain tab 50 in the flight channel 48. The flight channel and chain tab shown in FIGURE 2 are positioned on the end of conveyor flight bar 40. The conveyor 28 is rotated by rollers which receive their power from the source of power 20 and the flight bars 40 serve to move the material such as asphalt from the hopper 24 to the end of the machine 10 ahead of the screed 30 for surfacing.

I claim:

1. A conveyor arrangement for a road surfacing machine including a pair of spaced apart movable conveyor link chains and a conveyor flight bar extending transversely and between opposed links on the pair of conveyor link chains wherein the improvement comprises a flight channel carried on one end of the flight bar and being provided with a horizontal slot and a vertical slot, a chain tab having a vertical bore and being rigidly secured to one of said links on one of said conveyor link chains with a portion extending through said horizontal slot with the vertical bore in alignment with said vertical slot, means of greater length than the vertical dimension of said horizontal slot positioned in said vertical bore to lock the tab in said channel and means for securing the opposite end of the flight bar to an opposed chain link on the other of said conveyor link chains.

2. A conveyor arrangement as defined in claim 1 wherein the flight channel is U-shaped with the ends of the legs of the U being rigidly secured to said flight bar.

3. A conveyor arrangement as defined in claim 1 wherein the flight channel is U-shaped with the ends of the legs of the U being rigidly secured to said flight bar and said horizontal slot extends through the connection between the legs of the U.

4. A conveyor arrangement as defined in claim 3 wherein a like flight channel is secured to the opposite end of the flight bar where it cooperates with a like chain tab on the opposed link.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3/ 1-951 Hatchet 198-175 8/1958 Hyman 198175 RICHARD E. AEGERTER, Primary Examiner. 

